DepEd to hire 40,000 teachers next year, says lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) will hire more than 40,000 public school teachers and non-teaching personnel next year, House Deputy Minority Leader Arnel Ty said yesterday.

He said the department will have about P10 billion for the hiring of 39,066 teachers and 1,500 support personnel.

The DepEd also intends to spend another P52.9 billion to build 31,728 classrooms, install 13,586 school water and sanitation facilities and acquire 1.3 million chairs next year, he said.

“We welcome the highly aggressive spending for extra staff and amid fears that the DepEd may be ill-equipped to cope with the demands of the new K to 12 program,” he said.

He said Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has called for the suspension of K to 12 until the DepEd has addressed the school system’s severe lack of teachers and classrooms, among other concerns.

“There’s no question that K to 12 will put a lot of pressure on the system, which will have to keep students in school for another two years starting 2016. However, our sense is, every effort is now being made to deal with the basic resource shortages,” Ty said.

He said the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals also bind the Philippines to “ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.”

“We now have high hopes that government’s incremental investment in basic education will enable the country to achieve universal primary schooling by 2015,” he said.

He revealed that the DepEd budget for next year also includes P8.4 billion to subsidize the tuition of 1,082,798 secondary students in private schools.

He said under the GASTPE or Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education program, the DepEd enters into large-scale education service contracting with private high schools.     

The private institutions receive students who can no longer be accommodated in existing public high schools. In return, government pays the private school a fixed amount per student every year, he said.